3 years ago

How did Chinese Empress Cixi use photographs as a political tool?

Cixi used photographs of herself as a campaign to reconstruct the public identity of the Qing court because Cixi was a controversial ruler.
She sent amazing painted prints and photographs to ministers, governors, and generals, clearly crafting an image of a magnanimous sovereign who was both a formidable politician and dignity.

President Theodore Roosevelt received prints, this underscored the complex engagement with foreign powers by the Qing court through this practice of exchanging portraits...trading images to support Chinese diplomacy